


Absolute Hope Birthday

by Rynn336



Series: Songs for the Hopeful Heart [16]
Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Canon Universe, Light Angst, M/M, No Plot/Plotless, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 22:01:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9847913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rynn336/pseuds/Rynn336
Summary: Overcome the despair and shine. (I miss you.)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HaloKarouKey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HaloKarouKey/gifts).



> Hi! Back again.  
> I decided to spree write all of the requests that I currently have waiting. I feel bad that it's taken this long to get them all out so you can expect the next one some time in the next few days. Of course, as soon as I'm done, I'll get right back to No Replacements and Voice and Perception.  
> This one doesn't have any plot. Like, at all. It's just a little slice of what I'd imagine a typical Komahina in-game morning might be like.   
> I actually used two songs for this. HaloKarouKey suggested [Absolute Hope Birthday](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dttvNVUGaRc) by Megumi Ogata, and while I was researching it and the lyrics, I came across something that said that while Absolute Hope Birthday is supposed to represent how Nagito presents himself on the outside, [Remaining Cherry Blossoms -Zanka-](https://soundcloud.com/nhokkwon/remaining-cherry-blossoms-zanka-zanka) is supposed to represent how he feels on the inside. I figured I might as well use both while I was at it. So here you go! I hope you enjoy!

Nagito draws his knees up to his chest, watching the water lap at the sand in front of him, sunlight glinting off of the crests of the small waves in blinding white arcs just before they crash and shatter on the beach. The long fronds of the palm tree at his back rustle in the cool, salty breeze rushing up from the ocean. It’s quiet. It’s peaceful. He takes long, slow breaths, every muscle in his body relaxed. If he doesn’t move, if he doesn’t think, if he doesn’t look away from the ocean, the brilliantly blue sky like a dome of pure sapphire, he can’t ruin anything.

No one’s died in a couple of days, but still, after Mahiru and Peko’s loss, everyone is different. He can feel it, their despair. It’s like being surrounded by opened freezers; they’re sucking all of the warmth, all of the hope, out of the air. He resists the urge to drum his fingers on his knee in irritation. Why can’t they see? The deaths weren’t losses at all, just opportunities for self-betterment, stepping stones toward the greater hope he’s sure everyone can reach if they really try. But that’s the problem. They don’t try.

_The deaths weren’t losses at all. Do I really believe that?_

He shakes his head vehemently. Yes. He does really believe that. How could he not? Sure, two young talents, so full of hope, were lost, but in the end, they’re just people, whose extraordinariness was not enough to keep them from falling into the depths of despair. The remaining students are better off without them, and they should learn and grow from their pain. Move on.

_I sound like a broken record._

He’s starting to get cold in the tree’s shade. It’s sunny, but the breeze is cold, though he doesn’t really want to leave his spot. His skin has always burnt really easily, and he can’t put on sunscreen; it makes him look even paler than he usually does. Like a ghost. He wraps his arms tighter around his legs and hunkers down over his knees with a sigh.

No one’s bothered him in a while. He wonders what they’re doing. They’re probably a little confused why he didn’t show up at breakfast this morning, but it’s not like he expects them to care. He’s just an ant under their shoes. Why would they come looking for him? He doesn’t really matter, and if he were dead, they’d be able to put off a Class Trial if they didn’t find him.

Huh. That’s a thought. He sits up a bit straighter. One good way to keep yourself from being found out in a Class Trial – if you ever have one in the first place – would be to do something with the body that would prevent anyone from finding it for a while. What if one was thrown in the ocean? That’d destroy a lot of the evidence, assuming that it ever washed up on shore at all. He smiles to himself. If an opportunity like the one with Teruteru arises again, he’ll have to suggest that.

He leans back against the trunk of the tree. It hasn’t been this quiet for a while. He loves every second of it. But as he lets his head fall back against the tree, one of the coconuts nestled at the center of the fronds shivers and, like a basketball slowly falling toward the center of a basket, tumbles through the air, straight for Nagito. Nagito yelps and covers his head. _Bad luck!_

There’s a long silence. Nagito realizes slowly that he hasn’t been hit, and, confused, he peers out from between his arms.

Hajime stares at him, tossing the coconut from hand to hand, his brow sporting a deep, concerned furrow. “Are you okay?”

Nagito blinks up at him in surprise, letting his arms fall to his sides once again and trying to ignore the way his heart is trying to claw its way up his throat, hammering rapidly. “Hajime!” he chirps after a moment, giving the other boy a bright smile and a wave as he climbs to his feet. “It’s just like you ultimates to help even a nobody like me. Thank you so much!”

Hajime looks him up and down, frowning in confusion. “Why didn’t you come to breakfast this morning?”  
“You noticed?” Nagito shrugs, his palms up as he keeps his smile plastered to his face. “I assumed you guys would rather not have to breathe the same air as someone like me every morning, so I gave you the day off. I didn’t think you’d mind.”

Hajime’s eyes narrow. “Really?”

“Mhm!” he says brightly.

“You realize we’ve been scouring the islands for you for twenty minutes, right?”

Nagito blinks in surprise. “Huh?”

“Yeah. We all panicked when you didn’t show up.” He looks down at the coconut in his hands.

“Panicked? Because of me?” Nagito stares in astonishment before he realizes why. He laughs cheerfully and lifts one shoulder, brushing past Hajime and making his way down to the water edge. “Ah, I get it! You thought I was up to something, didn’t you? You shouldn’t have worried, since everyone else was there, too. Except Fuyuhiko, of course. And besides, even if something bad did happen because of me…” He grins back at Hajime over his shoulder. “Your hope is more than strong enough to overcome whatever despair I might cause you! There’s no need to worry.” He looks back at the ocean, watching the waves rise and fall along the blurry horizon in the distance.

Hajime says nothing for a while. Nagito hums quietly, completely making up his own tune, though it sounds familiar, almost like he’s heard it before. He rocks back and forth between his toes and his heels, the heat of the sun through his thick hoodie making him sweat. Back, forth. Back, forth. Back, forth. Back – “Ow!” He stumbles forward as something hard hits him between the shoulders, the waves lapping against the toes of his shoes. He jumps back and whirls around. The coconut sits in the sand before his feet, and Hajime’s stuffed his hands in his pockets, his gaze sharp with frustration. “You threw a coconut at me,” Nagito says flatly.

“I did.”

“Why?” He tilts his head to the side. “Was I annoying you? I’m sorry.”

“You weren’t annoying me.”

“Huh? Then why?”

Hajime rolls his eyes and shakes his head in dismay. “You’re probably the most obnoxious person I’ve ever met.”

“So…I _was_ annoying you?”

“No, of course not, you…ugh. Come on, we should go to the hotel. Everyone’s wondering where you are.”

Nagito frowns, reaching behind him to rub the spot where the coconut hit him. “Do we have to?”

“You don’t want to?”

“Hmmm…no, not really.” Nagito kicks his toe into the sand and crosses his arms over his chest, smiling. “Of course, it’s not like I can stop you from going back. But I’d rather stay out here for a while.” He sits down once more in the sand. His skin already feels like it must be getting burnt, but now that he’s out in the sunlight, he’s too warm to make his way back to the shade.

Hajime hesitates, but after a moment he groans and moves forward, sitting down beside Nagito heavily. “I can’t believe you.”

Nagito stares at him disbelievingly. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like? I’m staying with you.”

“Why?”

“I have no idea.” Hajime gives a small smile and looks over at Nagito. “You have sand all over your pants, by the way.”

Nagito looks down and shrugs. “Oh. I don’t mind. But have you eaten breakfast yet? Aren’t you hungry?”

Hajime turns around to face the water, and Nagito does the same. The brunet relaxes back onto his elbows, his legs stretched out in front of him. Not for the first time, Nagito’s struck by how bright Hajime’s eyes are, how his shirt is just barely too big on his slender, sharp-angled frame. “Sure, I’m hungry, but I’d bet you are, too.”

Nagito spreads his hands, baffled. “I really don’t understand why you’re sitting out here with me.”

“Well, why not?”  
“Because – ”

“That was a rhetorical question.”

_This is weird._ But not any weirder than he knows he is, he remarks dryly to himself. And definitely not unwelcome. “They’re going to be looking for you now,” he warns. “They’ll probably think I killed you or something.”

“That’s fine. Maybe when they find us they’ll make you come get something to eat.”

He doesn’t understand. Hajime’s being too kind. He’s too insignificant to be worthy of it. He doesn’t do well with things he doesn’t understand. Everything is predictable. Everything has a purpose. This doesn’t. He didn’t see this coming. He grins. “How unexpected! Just what I’d expect from an ultimate like you. You simply exude hope!” Hajime lets out a groan, but he says nothing. Nagito frowns in confusion, but he shrugs and flops back onto the sand and rests his head on his arms. “I really don’t get why you’re here.”

“No,” Hajime says, shaking his head. He clears his throat and adds, “It’s not that you don’t get why I’m here. You just don’t get how anyone could care about you enough to spend time with you of their own volition.”

“Huh.” He’s never thought of it that way. “That too, probably. Care to explain?”

“Nope.”

“What? Why not?”

“Because some things don’t need explaining.”

“Why?”

“You’re like a little kid right now. Can’t you just let people care about you? You’re going to push everyone away if they have to justify themselves every few minutes.”

“What?”

Hajime smiles sheepishly at him. “Sorry.”

This entire conversation is bewildering. “But – ”

“You know what, Nagito?”  
“What?”

“Maybe we shouldn’t talk.”

Nagito contemplates that suggestion for a moment. “Yeah, okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Now, I'd like to make a small announcement. I've gotten sort of worn down by constantly writing Dangan Ronpa all the time. While I of course still love Dangan Ronpa, I've decided that I'd like to include some writing from other fandoms in this series as well. So in other words, your requests now are not limited to Dangan Ronpa. Examples of other fandoms you might ask me to write from include (but are not limited to) Yuri!!! on Ice, Attack on Titan, Mystic Messenger, the Kagerou Project, Soul Eater, and tons of other fandoms that I won't bother to list because it would take me too long. So! If you've got a song for any ship or character from really anything you'd like me to write, don't be afraid to let me know! If I haven't actually been introduced to the fandom you mention, of course I won't be able to write it, but even then, I'll keep your request in the Word document I use to keep track of everything and if I ever get around to looking into whatever your request pertained to, I may yet write it!  
> Thanks, you guys, for sticking with this series. And those of you who are new to it, well, thanks for giving me a shot!


End file.
